-=> Quoting Daryl Stout to Nancy Backus on 02-08-15  12:48 <=-

 NB>> DAG> Sorry about the one kid thing, if you were hoping to have more.
 NB>>Thanks.  We did try, very unsuccessfully, for a long time... it just
 NB>>wasn't going to happen, and it turned out that having even the one
 NB>>was a bit of a fluke, or miracle, if you will...  :)

 DS> One of my cousins was in a similar situation. She and her husband
 DS> tried for years to conceive a child; but she either miscarried, or
 DS> never conceived. After several years, they adopted a young child...and
 DS> shortly after that, lo and behold, she got pregnant, and now they have
 DS> 2 kids...the adopted one, and the one conceived naturally, as it were.

We had the first right away, early even... and then no more.  But I've
heard of many instances where after adopting, infertile couples were
able to have their own natural child after all... my aunt was one of
those... they adopted their first, and then had two more naturally..

 DS> Everyone's system is different, male and female (obviously), and
 DS> ferility issues can happen to both sexes.

Very true.

 DS> I found out the other day that another individual was in a similar
 DS> situation that I was 35 years ago...we both contracted the chicken pox
 DS> as adults (and not as kids), and the effects were far worse. A
 DS> childhood disease in an adult will either sterilize them, kill them, or
 DS> something else. I caught it from my brother, who caught it from his
 DS> first wife's kids. He had a relatively mild case by comparison to what
 DS> I had. 

Adults do generally have worse cases than children... but many of them
do recover just fine without lasting effect...  

 DS> My case was "the worst that the doctor had ever seen". It put me in
 DS> the hospital for a week, and out of work at the local Burger King
 DS> (across the street from where I was attending to college), and out of
 DS> college for 2 months, by order of the State Health Department. They
 DS> put me in isolation, as they thought I was going into encephalitis...
 DS> people coming to visit me had to put on protective gear, as if I was
 DS> "radioactive"...well, I guess I could've been considered a "biohazard". 

I'd guess that the isolation was a two-pronged thing... both to protect
you from getting anything else that would complicate things even worse,
and to protect others from getting infected from you.

 DS> Then, after working around nasty solvents like methyl-ehtyl-ketone
 DS> for nearly 20 years, that about sealed the deal with a very low sperm
 DS> count, and I was concerned that it could also lead to deformities. So,
 DS> I "had my wings clipped" before I got married...and as my late wife,
 DS> Janice, noted "they wouldn't spay me, so he volunteered to get
 DS> neutered". :P 

She did have quite the sense of humor, didn't she... :)  You might not
have had any real problems if you'd had kids, but I can see not wanting
to take that chance, given the circumstances... :)

 DS> But, the way the world is nowadays...along with the disobedient and
 DS> insolent nature of so many kids...I'm glad I'll never be able to
 DS> father a child. Indeed, the resident manager at the apartment complex
 DS> where I live said "You are so lucky you don't have kids"...apparently
 DS> hers are "a terror".

I'd guess she let them get out of hand earlier... Most kids I know well
are reasonably well-behaved... but then their parents have done what
they could to make that be the case, from early on...  :)

 DS> The ONE EXCEPTION I saw to kids behavior is with the Duggar family
 DS> (Jim Bob, and his wife Michelle). They have had at least 19 kids, and
 DS> now have grandchildren. When he goes impotent, or she goes into
 DS> menopause, she is going to be a basket case!! But, from what I've
 DS> seen, all of their children are VERY WELL BEHAVED...and that's more the
 DS> exception than the rule nowadays. They properly discipline their kids,
 DS> and that's probably why the kids are so "good".

Discipline and teaching are important... and learning to take on
responsibility at a young age...  :)

 DS> I got my share of spankings growing up, and I don't consider myself
 DS> mal-adjusted. And, this talk of "you can't spank your kids, as it'll
 DS> ruin their self esteem", is garbage...pure and simple.

There is, of course, an often thin line between spanking and abuse...
and some parents do cross over that...  but it's just as abusive and
neglectful in the long run to allow a child to have his/her own way
without any discipline... a well-planted swat goes a long way...  :)

ttyl        neb

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